Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American
Pepper spray is all over the news, following the Occupy Wall Street protests, particularly following the widely disseminated images and videos of protestors being sprayed in NY, Portland, and UCDavis.Before that, I knew and occasionally used its main ingredient, capsaicin, as a treatment for my patients with shingles, an extremely painful Herpes zoster infection...
Not since Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd has there ever been such a set of rivals as Tom Turkey and Hunter Bob. Hunter Bob just can’t seem to get a turkey today.
On a Renaissance map of the world, there is a small white elephant standing near the Arctic coast of Russia. How it got there is a mystery. Is it a mammoth, or does it symbolize something else?...
This past week, I was jolted out of my chair by news that a Pfizer-led group plans to buy access to patient data in hospitals. My initial reaction was anger, on a variety of levels: as a researcher, as one who is increasingly wary of the reach of huge corporations, and as an individual.Actually, it is not just Pfizer doing this—a new consortium called the Partnership to Advance Clinical Electronic Research (PACeR), includes Merck, Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, Hoffman-La Roche, Quintiles, and Oracle...
Is a looming science fair project keeping you up at night? Has the teacher sent home an “informational packet” that requires your child to bring back a completed project?
One hundred years ago, an American pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville developed a scale to measure the intensity of a pepper’s burn. The scale – as you can see on the widely used chart to the left – puts sweet bell peppers at the zero mark and the blistering habanero at up to 350,000 Scoville Units.I checked the Scoville Scale for something else yesterday...
Indefinite growth on a finite planet is impossible. Few would argue the truth of this statement in physical terms, but most believe that economic growth is immune to such a claim, because—the story goes—economics can be decoupled from physical throughput via efficiency improvements, transformative technology/innovation, and increased activity in low-resource-use "service" industries...
The God of the Gaps must be feeling mightily squeezed these days. Is it any surprise that someone wants to give him/her/it a whole new universe in which to hang out?Clay Farris Naff tries to do just that in a post today on the Scientific American guest blog titled, "A Secular Case for Intentional Creation." The post isn't about the creation of Earth or humanity, which Naff kindly considers settled, but about the creation of our universe itself...
“Does aught befall you? It is good. It is part of the destiny of the Universe ordained for you from the beginning.”-- Marcus Aurelius, Stoic Philosopher and Emperor of Rome, in Meditations, circa 170 CE“'He said that, did he?...
Suppose, for a moment, that you were presented with an opportunity to put what you learned in the classroom, what you learned in the lab, what you learned in the field to use for the benefit of hundreds of thousands of people...
STAFFBehind the scenes at Scientific American
Read
STAFF
Read
Exploring the human condition.
Read
Insights into intelligence, creativity, personality, and well-being
Read
Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
Read
Critical views of science in the news
Read
STAFF
Read
Explore the science behind the dog in your bed
Read
News and research about endangered species from around the world
Read
The Science Behind Extreme Weather
Read
Science by and for kids ages 8-15
Read
Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American
Read
Climate science in a changing world
Read
Illusions, Delusions, and Everyday Deceptions
Read
Discussion and news about planets, exoplanets, and astrobiology
Read
Opinion, arguments & analyses from guest experts and from the editors of Scientific American
Read
Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
Read
Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
Read
STAFFIllustrating science since 1845
Read
STAFFA science blog, sans blague
Read
A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
Read
Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
Read